Palestine Journal of Mathematics

Vol. 10(1)(2021) , 128–134 © Palestine Polytechnic University-PPU 2021

NEW ALGORITHMS FOR COMPUTING A ROOT OF

NON-LINEAR EQUATIONS USING EXPONENTIAL SERIES
Srinivasarao Thota, Tekle Gemechu and P. Shanmugasundaram
Communicated by Suheel Khoury (S. Khuri)

MSC 2010 Classifications: Primary 65Hxx; Secondary 65H04.

Keywords and phrases: Root finding algorithms, Non-linear equations, Exponential series, Real root.

The authors are thankful to the editor and reviewer for providing valuable inputs to improve the present format of
manuscript.

Abstract In this paper, we present new algorithms/methods to find a non-zero real root of
the transcendental equations using exponential series. The new proposed method is based on
the exponential series, which produces better approximate root than some existing methods.
MATLAB and Maple implementation of the proposed method is discussed. Certain numerical
examples are presented to validate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The method will
help to implement in the commercial package for finding a real root of a given transcendental
equation.

1 Introduction
The non-linear problems solving in science, engineering and computing are playing important
role to compute roots of transcendental equations. A root of a function f (x) is a number ‘α’
such that f (α) = 0. Generally, the roots of transcendental functions cannot be expressed in
closed form or cannot be computed analytically. The root-finding algorithms provide us approx-
imations to the roots, these approximations are expressed either as small isolating intervals or
as floating point numbers. Most of the algorithms in the literature use iteration, producing a
sequence of numbers that hopefully converge towards the root as a limit. They need one or more
initial guesses of the root as starting values, then each new iteration of the method produces a
successively more accurate approximate root in comparison to previous iteration. The purpose
of existing methods is to provide higher order convergence with guaranteed root. The existing
methods may not guarantee that they will find all the roots; in particular, if such an algorithm
does not find any root, that does not mean that no root exists. There are many well known root
finding algorithms available, (for example, Bisection, Secant, Regula-Falsi, Newton-Raphson,
Muller’s methods etc.) to find an approximate root of algebraic or transcendental equations, see
for example [1, 2, 4–7, 9–12, 14–22, 25–27]. If the equation f (x) = 0 is an algebraic equation,
then there are many algebraic formulae available to find the roots. However, if f (x) is a polyno-
mial of higher degree or an expression involving transcendental equations such as trigonometric,
exponential, algorithmic etc., then there are no algebraic methods exist to express the root.
In this work, the proposed new methods are based on exponential series, which provides
faster roots in comparison with existing algorithms. The new proposed algorithms will be useful
for computing a real root of transcendental equations. The Newton-Raphson method can be
derived as a special case of the proposed method, so we select a non-zero initial approximation
a for a given transcendental function f (x) such that f ′ (a) 6= 0.
The rest of the paper is as follows: Section 2 describes the proposed method, their mathemat-
ical formulation, calculation steps and flow chart; implementation of the proposed algorithm in
Maple is presented in Section 3 with sample computations; and Section 4 discuss some numeri-
cal examples to illustrate the algorithm and comparisons are made to show efficiency of the new
algorithm.
 ALGORITHMS FOR COMPUTING A ROOT OF EQUATIONS 129

2 An Exponential Series Based Algorithm

The new iterative formulae using exponential series are proposed as

−f (xn )
 
xn+1 = xn exp , n = 0, 1, 2, . . . . (2.1)
xn f ′ (xn )

By expanding this iterative formula, one can obtain the standard Newton-Raphson method as in
first two terms, and many methods are obtained based on series truncation. Indeed,

f (xn )
xn+1 = xn − . (2.2)
f ′ (xn )
2
f (xn ) f (xn )

1
xn+1 = xn − ′ + . (2.3)
f (xn ) 2xn f ′ (x n )
2 3
f (xn ) f (xn ) f (xn )
 
1 1
xn+1 = xn − + − . (2.4)
f (xn ) 2xn
′ f ′ (x n ) 6x2n f ′ (xn )

This is shown in the following theorem.

Theorem 2.1. Suppose α 6= 0 is a real exact root of f (x) and θ is a sufficiently small neighbour-
hood of α. Let f ′′ (x) exist and f ′ (x) 6= 0 in θ. Then the iterative formula given in equation (2.1)
produces a sequence of iterations {xn : n = 0, 1, 2, . . .} with order of convergence p ≥ 2.

Proof. The iterative formula given in equation (2.1) can be expressed in the following form

−f (xn )
 
xn+1 = xn exp .
xn f ′ (xn )

Since
−f (xn )
 
lim exp = 1,
xn →α xn f ′ (xn )

and hence xn+1 = α.

Using the standard expansion of ex as

1 1 1
exp(x) = 1 + x + x2 + x3 + x4 + · · · (2.5)
2 6 24
and from equations (2.1) and (2.5), we have

−f (xn )
 
xn+1 = xn exp
xn f ′ (xn )
2 3
−f (xn ) 1 −f (xn ) 1 −f (xn )
   
= xn (1 + + +
xn f ′ (xn ) 2 xn f ′ (xn ) 6 xn f ′ (xn )
4
−f (xn )

1
+ + ···)
24 xn f ′ (xn )
2 3
f (xn ) f (xn ) f (xn )
 
1 1
= xn − ′ + −
f (xn ) 2xn f ′ (xn ) 6x2n f ′ (xn )
4 !
f (xn )

1
+o .
24x3n f ′ (xn )

Since f (xn ) ≈ 0, when we neglect higher order terms, then the above equation becomes Newton-
Rapson method. Indeed, we have the following formulae obtained from first two terms, three
130 Srinivasarao Thota, Tekle Gemechu and P. Shanmugasundaram

terms and four terms of the expansion respectively as given in equations (2.2)-(2.4).
f (xn )
xn+1 = xn − .
f ′ (xn )
2
f (xn ) f (xn )

1
xn+1 = xn − ′ + .
f (xn ) 2xn f ′ (x n )
2 3
f (xn ) f (xn ) f (xn )
 
1 1
xn+1 = xn − ′ + − 2 .
f (xn ) 2xn f ′ (x n ) 6xn f ′ (xn )
In the above equations, we obtained Newton-Rapson method having quadratic convergence in
first two terms. Therefore, the order of convergence of proposed methods (2.1), (2.3) and (2.4)
are at least p ≥ 2.

2.1 Steps for Computing Root

I Select an approximation xn 6= 0 and f ′ (xn ) 6= 0.
II Apply the iterative formula given in equation (2.1).
III Repeat Step II until we get desired approximate root, for n = 0, 1, 2, . . ..
Flow chat of the proposed algorithm is presented in Figure 1

Select a non-zero Approximations such that

If approximate root If approximate root satisfies

satisfy the the desired residual then
desired residual STOP

Figure 1. Flow chart for proposed algorithm

3 Implementation of Proposed Algorithm

In this section, we discuss the MATLAB and Maple implementation of the proposed algorithm.
The data type ❊①♣◆❡✇t♦♥✭❢✱①✵✱❡s♣✱♥✮ describes the implementation in MATLAB, where ❢ is
given non-linear transcendental function, ①✵ is the initial approximation of the root, ❡s♣ is the
relative error and ♥ is the number of iterations required.

❢✉♥❝t✐♦♥ r♦♦t ❂ ❊①♣◆❡✇t♦♥✭❢✱①✵✱❡s♣✱♥✮

✐t❡r ❂ ✵❀ ❡❛ ❂ ✵❀ ①♥ ❂ ①✵❀
❢❞ ❂ ✐♥❧✐♥❡✭❝❤❛r✭❞✐❢❢✭❢♦r♠✉❧❛✭❢✮✮✮✱✬①✬✮❀
 ALGORITHMS FOR COMPUTING A ROOT OF EQUATIONS 131

❞✐s♣✭✬ ✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✬✮❀
❞✐s♣✭✬ ◆♦ ❘♦♦t ❢✭❘♦♦t✮ ✪❡rr♦r ✬✮❀
❞✐s♣✭✬ ✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✲✬✮❀
✇❤✐❧❡ ✭✶✮
①♥♦❧❞ ❂ ①♥❀
①♥ ❂①✵✯❡①♣✭✲❢✭①✵✮✴✭①✵✯❢❞✭①✵✮✮✮❀
①♥♥❡✇ ❂ ①♥❀
❞✐s♣✭s♣r✐♥t❢✭✬✪✹❞ ✪✶✵✳✹❢ ✪✶✵✳✷❢ ✪✽✳✷❢✬✱✐t❡r✰✶✱①♥✱❢✭①♥✮✱❡❛✮✮❀
✐t❡r ❂ ✐t❡r ✰ ✶❀
✐❢ ①♥ ❂ ✵✱ ❡❛ ❂ ❛❜s✭✭①♥ ✲ ①♥♦❧❞✮✴①♥✮ ✯ ✶✵✵❀ ❡♥❞
①✵ ❂ ①♥❀
✐❢ ❡❛ ❁❂ ❡s♣ ⑤ ✐t❡r ❃❂ ♥✱ ❜r❡❛❦✱ ❡♥❞
❡♥❞
❞✐s♣✭✬ ✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✬✮❀
❞✐s♣✭❬✬●✐✈❡♥ ❢✉♥❝t✐♦♥ ❢✭①✮ ❂ ✬ ❝❤❛r✭❢✮❪✮❀
❞✐s♣✭s♣r✐♥t❢✭✬❆♣♣r♦①✐♠❛t❡ r♦♦t ❂ ✪✶✵✳✶✵❢✬✱①♥✮✮❀

The following a data type ❊①♣◆❡✇t♦♥✭❢✱①✵✱♥✮ gives the implementation in Maple, where ❢
is given non-linear transcendental function, ①✵ is the initial approximation of the root, and ♥ is
the number of iterations required.

❊①♣◆❡✇t♦♥✿❂♣r♦❝✭❢✱①✵✱♥✮
❧♦❝❛❧ ✐t❡♥✱ ❢①✵❀
❢♦r ✐t❡♥ ❢r♦♠ ✶ ❜② ✶ ✇❤✐❧❡ ✐t❡♥ ❁ ♥✰✶
❞♦
♣r✐♥t❢✭✧■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✪❣ ✿ ✧✱ ✐t❡♥✮❀
①✵✿❂✭①✵✯❡①♣✭✲s✉❜s✭①❂①✵✱❢✮✴✭①✵✯s✉❜s✭①❂①✵✱❞✐❢❢✭❢✱①✮✮✮✮✮❀
❢①✵✿❂s✉❜s✭① ❂ ①✵✱ ❢✮❀
❡♥❞ ❞♦❀
r❡t✉r♥ ①✵✱❢①✵❀
❡♥❞ ♣r♦❝✿

Sample computations using the implementation of the proposed algorithm are presented in Sec-
tion 4.

4 Numerical Examples
This section provides some numerical examples to discuss the algorithm presented in Section 2
and comparisons are taken into account to conform that the algorithm is more efficient than other
existing methods.

Example 4.1. Consider the following transcendental equations [11]. We compare the number
of iterations required to get approximation root with accuracy of 10−15 . The numerical results
are provided in Table 1.
a. f (x) = ln(x), with initial approximation 0.5.
b. f (x) = x − esin(x) + 1, with initial approximation 4.
c. f (x) = 11x11 − 1, with initial approximation 1.
d. f (x) = xe−x − 0.1, with initial approximation 0.1.
The numerical results given in Table 1 shows that the proposed method is more efficient than
other methods.

Example 4.2. Consider a transcendental equations of the following type. We find approximate
root using formulae given in equations (2.2), (2.3) and (2.4) to show the convergence of the
proposed algorithm, see Table 2. To find approximate root, we start with an initial approximation
132 Srinivasarao Thota, Tekle Gemechu and P. Shanmugasundaram

Table 1. Comparing No. of iterations by different methods

Exact Regula Falsi Newton Raphson Steffen Proposed
Fun. Root method method method method
a. 1.00000 27 Divergent Failure 2
b. 1.69681 & 0 32 Not Convergent Failure 3
c. 0.80413 101 7 Divergent 6
d. 0.11183 15 Failure Failure 2

as 1.5, and we have the exact real root is 1.134724138.

f (x) = x6 − x − 1. (4.1)

Table 2. Comparing approximate root using formulae given in equations (2.2),(2.3),(2.4)

Iteration Newton-Raphson Equation No. Equation No. Proposed
No. method (2.2) (2.3) (2.4) method
1 1.300490884 1.313758847 1.313170607 1.313189657
2 1.181480417 1.193998307 1.193487993 1.193502766
3 1.139455590 1.143246378 1.143095302 1.143099361
4 1.134777625 1.134926557 1.134919460 1.134919647
5 1.134724145 1.134724255 1.134724248 1.134724248
6 1.134724138 1.134724138 1.134724138 1.134724138
7 1.134724138 1.134724138 1.134724138 1.134724138

Example 4.3. This example gives the sample computation using MatLab and Maple imple-
mentation as described in Section 3. Consider a transcendental equation of the form

f (x) = e−x − x

with initial approximation of the root as 1.0.

Using MatLab implementation, we have the following computations.

❢❂✐♥❧✐♥❡✭✬❡①♣✭✲①✮ ✲ ①✬✱✬①✬✮❀
❢✉♥❝t✐♦♥ r♦♦t ❂ ❊①♣◆❡✇t♦♥✭❢✱✶✳✵✱✵✳✵✵✵✵✶✱✶✵✮
✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✲
◆♦ ❘♦♦t ❢✭❘♦♦t✮ ✪❡rr♦r
✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✲
✶ ✵✳✻✷✾✾✹✽✺✸✷✺ ✲✵✳✵✾✼✸✷✾✸✶✾✻ ✕✲
✷ ✵✳✺✻✾✺✸✾✸✾✷✷ ✲✵✳✸✼✺✸✹✵✽✶❡✲✷ ✶✵✳✻✵✻✻✻✺✽✻
✸ ✵✳✺✻✼✶✹✼✷✽✾✽ ✲✵✳✻✷✻✼✻❡✲✺ ✵✳✹✷✶✼✼✼✾✽✸✷
✹ ✵✳✺✻✼✶✹✸✷✾✵✻ ✲✸❡✲✶✵ ✵✳✵✵✵✼✵✺✶✹✽✵✼✺✽
✺ ✵✳✺✻✼✶✹✸✷✾✵✹ ✵ ✸✳✺✷✻✹✹✺✻✻✽✯✶✵−8
✻ ✵✳✺✻✼✶✹✸✷✾✵✹ ✵ ✵
✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✕✲
●✐✈❡♥ ❢✉♥❝t✐♦♥ ❢✭①✮ ❂ ❡①♣✭✲①✮ ✲ ①
❆♣♣r♦①✐♠❛t❡ r♦♦t ❂ ✵✳✺✻✼✶✹✸✷✾✵✹

Using Maple implementation, we have the following computations.

❃ ❢✿❂ ❡①♣✭✲①✮ ✲ ①✿
 ALGORITHMS FOR COMPUTING A ROOT OF EQUATIONS 133

❃ ❊①♣◆❡✇t♦♥✭❢✱✶✳✵✱✼✮❀

■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✶ ✿ 0.6299485325
■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✷ ✿ 0.5695393922
■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✸ ✿ 0.5671472898
■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✹ ✿ 0.5671432906
■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✺ ✿ 0.5671432904
■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✻ ✿ 0.5671432904
■t❡r❛t✐♦♥ ✼ ✿ 0.5671432904

One can use the implementation of the proposed algorithm to speed up the manual calculations.

5 Conclusion
In this present work, we presented a new algorithm to compute an approximate root of a given
transcendental function better than previous existing methods as illustrated. The proposed new
algorithm was based on exponential function having better convergence than previous existing
methods. This proposed algorithm is useful for solving the complex real life problems. One can
also extend the proposed algorithm to system of non-linear equations. Implementation of the
proposed algorithm in Matlab and Maple is also discussed.

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Author information
Srinivasarao Thota, Tekle Gemechu, Department of Applied Mathematics, School of Applied Natural Sciences,
Adama Science and Technology University, Post Box No. 1888, Adama, Ethiopia.
E-mail: sr✐♥✐t❤♦t❛❅②♠❛✐❧✳❝♦♠✱ sr✐♥✐✈❛s❛r❛♦✳t❤♦t❛❅❛st✉✳❡❞✉✳❡t✱ t❡❦❣❡♠❅②❛❤♦♦✳❝♦♠
P. Shanmugasundaram, Department of Mathematics, College of Natural & Computational sciences, Mizan
Tepi University, Mizan Tepi, Ethiopia.
E-mail: ♣ss❡r♦❞❡❅❣♠❛✐❧✳❝♦♠

❘❡❝❡✐✈❡❞✿ ❆♣r✐❧ ✷✾✱ ✷✵✶✾✳

❆❝❝❡♣t❡❞✿ ◆♦✈❡♠❜❡r ✷✸✱ ✷✵✶✾✳